From Team Fortress Wiki
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Surging electrolysed ultra-waves of pure phlogiston, this devastating incinerator will get them all hot under the collar! Actually, it will burn them alive. Horribly. — Phlogistinator publicity blurb
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The Phlogistinator is a primary weapon for the Pyro. It is a retro-futuristic ray gun with some metal parts colored either copper or silver depending on the team, and a team-colored canister stamped with the Dr. Grordbort crest. It fires waves of energy that function identically to the Flamethrower's flames. These energy waves seem to appear across the Pyro's entire range simultaneously, despite the actual damage-causing particles needing a small travel time, resulting in an effect that can be deceiving to the eye.
With the Phlogistinator equipped, all fire damage done by the Pyro will increase a 'Mmmph' bar. Once filled, it can be activated with the secondary fire command or taunting (default key 'G'), which performs a taunt that will refill health completely and enable a short crit boost for the Phlogistinator only. During this taunt, the wielder has 75% damage resistance (however, this does not protect against damage from Backstabs). The taunt cannot be activated if the player is in the air or in water. 'Mmmph' bar will reset upon contact the Resupply Locker. This weapon inflicts 10% less damage than the stock Flamethrower, and cannot gain random crits or use compression blasts.
It requires 225 points of fire damage to completely fill the 'Mmmph' bar (1200 damage against robots, or 3000 damage against tanks, in Mann vs. Machine), and when full, a team-colored plasma/lightning/vortex particle effect will appear in the muzzle of the weapon as a visual indicator. The duration of the buff is 10 seconds, minus the length of the taunt (should the player be pushed into the air or water while taunting, such as by explosive knockback or an airblast, the taunt ends early, and they will be able to utilize more of this 10-second crit window).
Enemies killed by the Phlogistinator suffer a distinctive death by incineration, wherein they disintegrate into smoldering orange cinders that quickly fade away.
The Phlogistinator was later contributed to the Steam Workshop at Valve's request.
Damage and function times
| Damage and function times
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| Shot type
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Particle |
| Damage
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| Flame damage (close) |
100% |
6.14 / particle |
| Flame damage (far) |
60% |
3.68 / particle |
| Critical
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11-18 / particle |
| Mini-crit
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5-9 / particle |
| Afterburn
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3/tick 60 total |
| Afterburn (mini-crit)
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4/tick 80 total |
| Function times
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| Attack interval
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0.04 s |
| Ammo consumption interval
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0.08 s |
| Afterburn duration
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10 s |
| Values are approximate and determined by community testing.
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Note: Flame damage is proportional to particle lifetime instead of distance from target. Unlike most weapons, Critical hits are also affected by the scaling. Additionally, there is a very slight damage variance (±0.08 / particle) due to differences in particle angles.
Item set
Phlogistinator 
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No effect
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Demonstration
Crafting
Blueprint
As a crafting ingredient
Related achievements
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| Escape the Heat Jump into a pool of refreshing water while on fire.
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| Flamethrower Set five enemies on fire in 30 seconds.
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| Semper Fry Kill 20 enemies while you are on fire.
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| Hot on Your Heels Kill 50 enemies with your flamethrower, from behind.
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| Pyromancer Do 1 million points of total fire damage.
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| Second Degree Burn Kill a burning enemy who was ignited by another Pyro.
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| Weenie Roast Have 2 enemy Scouts on fire at the same time.
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| Infernal Medicine Extinguish 100 burning teammates.
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| Friendship is Golden Extinguish a burning teammate with your Jarate.
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Update history
December 15, 2011 Patch (Australian Christmas 2011)
- The Phlogistinator was added to the game.
December 16, 2011 Patch
- Fixed a problem that would allow Pyro 'Mmmph' to activate in the air without taunting.
- Fixed an exploit with the Phlogistinator where the effects could activate without taunting in high-lag situations.
January 11, 2012 Patch
- Added crafting blueprint for the Phlogistinator.
March 15, 2012 Patch
- Fixed a bug where Mmmph-crit flames could cause 'Mmmph' to build fast enough to allow it to be infinitely chained.
- Direct damage reduced by 10%.
- Crit buff time lowered from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.
June 27, 2012 Patch (Pyromania Update)
- Increased base damage by +10%.
- Damage defense while taunting reduced from -90% to -75%
February 28, 2013 Patch #2
- Fixed The Phlogistinator’s Mmmmph particle effect getting stuck on after performing a taunt
May 13, 2013 Patch
- Updated the Phlogistinator to reduce the rate for gaining MMMPH when attacking tanks and robots in Mann Vs. Machine mode.
Bugs
- In some cases, when the player switches from Pyro to another class, they will have only 50 ammo.
- If the player has less that 20 ammo left, 'Mmmph' will not be allowed to be activated via Alt-fire as if it was a compression blast. Activating it via taunting is however still possible.
- After activating 'Mmmph', the charged particle effect remains on the muzzle of the weapon. This can be easily fixed by switching to another weapon and then back again.
- After activating 'Mmmph' followed by switching class, the 'Mmmph' glowing particle effect will be present when taunting.
- 'Mmmph' gained is not reduced to reflect Damage Resistance. For example, hitting a Spy protected by the Dead Ringer will enable the Pyro to fill his 'Mmmph' gauge, despite the Spy not having enough health to do so normally.
- The canister does not glow when crit-boosted.
- In some cases, fire particles still in the air while activating 'Mmmph' will also be crit-boosted.
- If 'Mmmph' is activated and the round changes, the effect will continue until the 'Mmmph' bar is depleted.
- If the player is switched to the enemy team when the rounds end with a full 'Mmmph', the charged particle effect in client view will still be the old team's color.
- Using an Action slot taunt with a full 'Mmmph' will cause the charge particle effect to disappear. This bug can be fixed by switching weapons.
Trivia
- Phlogiston is a theoretical fire-like element that was once believed to be contained within combustible objects.
- This weapon's design seems to be inspired from the "Unnatural Selector", a model which can be bought here at Weta's online store.
- The Phlogistinator is an Aether Combustor according to the Weta Workshop page for Dr. Grordbort[1].
- According to the same page, it "surges electrolysed ultra-waves of pure phlogiston".
Gallery
References
- ↑ Dr. Grordbort's Moonman Pack on the Weta Workshop website
See also